The 'Is Like' Parables -Part 3

June 8 | Read and Think about Matthew 13:24-29, 36-43, and 47-52

While the kingdom of Heaven is not a location on a map, the ‘Is Like’ parables show us it does have several dimensions.

We have seen how the kingdom of Heaven attracts those who hear the Lord’s words and consider its value, as one would value a treasure or a fine pearl (part 2). We’ve also seen how the kingdom of Heaven is supposed to expand in our lives and in the world, through the combined work of the Holy Spirit and of Jesus’ own followers (part 1).

Now, in today’s passages, we see an eternal dimension of the kingdom of Heaven.

From the first passage, the parable of the wheat and the weeds, the reality is that not all will be saved.  A judgment is to occur when the wheat and the weeds will be separated out.

Those who are like the wheat (made righteous in Jesus Christ) will be in Heaven, verse 43, while those like the weeds will perish and suffer, verse 42.

The second parable for today (the fishing net) follows the same track. Notice the similarity between verses 49–50 and verse 41.

The verses say that we, as humans, are not to judge. It is not our place to judge, and it frees us to concentrate on other things.

This is why Paul, after being beaten and put in the stocks, did not judge his persecutor. Instead, we read in Acts 16.22-34 about Paul urging the jailer to not end his life, and saying, “believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” 

That same night, Paul sowed the seeds of salvation in the man‘s life and his family‘s, baptizing all of them for the forgiveness of their sins.

Paul was not to judge the jailer, but rather to love him. This is our calling, too.